


My Favorite Earth

by sansasnarks



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, just a whole bunch of aus honestly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-06 13:37:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6756361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sansasnarks/pseuds/sansasnarks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cisco peeks through other Earths from time to time, and when he does, he's shocked to see himself with Barry. A look at the universes where Flashvibe is together; written for Flashvibeweek2016.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Favorite Earth

**Author's Note:**

> Since I didn't really write anything for Flashvibe week, I figured why not combine most of the prompts into this one fic? This story was inspired by minachandler's story In Every Universe, which I highly recommend. :)

Cisco doesn't tell Barry or Caitlin, but when he's sitting alone in his apartment or at Star Labs, he'll peek into the other Earths. 

It starts as morbid curiosity at first - to see if his family was still estranged in other worlds, if he were evil - but then Cisco had begun noticing some things. 

For example, the worlds where he was with his best friend. 

* * *

He had first seen them together on Earth 5, which featured the two without powers. The two were scientists, working on the Particle Accelerator with Dr. Wells, which had concerned Cisco until he saw that Earth 5 had far less resources, and that  _their_ particle explosion would be decades away at the earliest. 

Cisco had watched his Earth 5 doppleganger work side by side with Barry, and he had smiled, glad that the two of them were still best friends.

Until, of course, when Earth 5 Barry Allen mumbled "You're so cute," to Earth 5 Cisco, and swooped him up in a kiss. The two had been very much into the kiss; Barry's hands were on Cisco's face, and Cisco had been grabbing onto Barry's waist tightly, pulling him closer with each passing second. Cisco had started feeling flushed just  _watching_ them, but then their Jesse Wells had walked in, her face scrunching up when she saw the two. 

"Ugh, can you two get a  _room_? _"_ she said, smirking when the two separated, Barry's face already red from being caught. 

Barry started stammering. "I - shouldn't you be in school?" 

"It's Saturday, idiots," Jesse responded, and from his spot in Earth 1, Cisco rolled his eyes. At least she was still as snarky as ever. "I thought I'd visit dad, but of course you two are here making out instead. I know that some of your fangirls would love to see you two -"

"We don't have fangirls!" Barry interjected. "We just have...passionate...colleagues."

"Say that to all the fanblogs of you two online," Jesse scoffed. "I don't know why everyone is so obsessed with Star Labs, but they are, and you two have a fanbase who'd  _love_ to see you two together, but _s_ _ome_ of us don't want to see you two making out every five seconds." She paused, and her face went dark as she mumbled, "Or doing stuff in the closet." 

Earth 1 Cisco choked at the comment, feeling embarrassed for himself, but Earth 5 Cisco just rolled his eyes and said, "That was  _one_ time!" 

 Cisco watches as his and Barry's dopplegangers laugh at Jesse, who rolls her eyes at them and gives them a small smile. Barry puts his arm around Cisco, and pulls him in for a long kiss while Jesse shrieked and covered her eyes, yelling at them about healthy workplace behaviors. 

Cisco thinks he likes Earth 5 the most. 

* * *

Earth 32 is a pretty good follow up. 

Here, Cisco is a florist - of all things, a  _florist_ , he scoffs. Apparently Earth 32 Cisco wasn't allergic to pollen and was  _very_ enthusiastic about flowers. Cisco watches as his E-32 counterpart spends 10 minutes explaining the difference between  _Calibrachoa_ and petunias to an  _extremely_ polite Caitlin Snow, who, although she doesn't come in often, will apparently come in every year to buy flowers for her deceased husband's grave. Cisco is honestly surprised that he hasn't made flower crowns yet, until his doppleganger pulls out two flower crowns from a small crate and tries to sell them to Caitlin, who gives him a small smile and tells him that she'll come back and buy it next week when her boyfriend comes back into town. His doppleganger tells her that he can't wait to see her, and he gives her a wide smile. 

He's always smiling, Cisco notices. E-32 Cisco may honestly be the happiest person alive, because he never gets impatient or rolls his eyes when customers ask him dumb questions, but answers everything with a wide smile.

When Barry comes in, E-32 Cisco looks no different, but Cisco sees that he can't take his eyes off Barry, even when another customer enters the shop. 

"Hey," Barry says, walking up to Cisco and giving him a big smile. "I'd like to buy some flowers? A dozen roses?" 

"Sure thing!" Cisco says, and he grabs some roses and wraps them together for Barry. "For anyone special?" 

Barry nods, a huge smile overtaking his face as he tells Cisco that it's his mother's birthday and he wanted to buy her some flowers. 

"That's sweet!" Cisco smiles back, and his eyes light up and he grabs some flower crowns from the crate. (Apparently, he  _really_ wants to sell those flower crowns.) "Maybe she'd enjoy some of these?" he asks, holding the crowns out. Barry laughs and agrees that she would, and buys two of them. 

The next day, Barry is back requesting two more flower crowns. "My best friend Iris loves them," he said, "and my dad asked why I didn't get one for  _him_ too so I thought I'd get more." 

Cisco lights up again, and he shows Barry the different crowns he's made, and Barry picks out a lavender crown for Iris and some multicolored flowers for his father. 

Barry doesn't come back for a whole week, but when he does, he asks for more flowers. 

"Any special occasion, Barry?" Cisco asks, and Barry rubs the back of his head and starts stammering - which is how Earth 1 Cisco realizes that he's about to lie. "Ah, it's - it's Iris's birthday, so I wanted to get her some." 

These excuses last for the next two months - Barry comes in, telling Cisco he needs flowers or flower crowns: for his dad's birthday, for an event, for Box Day (which is apparently a huge thing in Earth 32), for his  _own_ birthday. He comes in, buys a few flowers, and then spends a few hours chatting with Cisco, the two going through their days. 

It falls apart when Barry slips up on a lie - he asks for flowers under the guise that it's Iris's birthday, and Cisco narrows his eyes. 

"Wasn't her birthday two months ago?" Cisco asks. 

"Right, well, I just -" 

"Barry, you know, you've been buying an awful lot of flowers," Cisco says, leaning over the counter. His eyes sparkle with a hint of mischievousness (to Earth One Cisco's happiness; he was starting to think E-32 Cisco was the nicest person _ever_ ). "Do you want a job here, because you _know_ , I could easily just give you an application." 

Barry looked down with a smile, his face already turning red. "I - I guess I haven't been subtle, huh?" he said.

"Barry, you've come in here almost every day for the past two months," Cisco said. "I own a flower shop and even I don't need that many flowers. So, If I haven't been mistaken, you like me, right? I'm not reading this wrong? You're not doing the longest job interview ever?" 

"No, no, you're right," Barry laughed. "I like you, I've just been super nervous about asking you out, so I ended up just coming here to buy flowers every day, and now my house is filled with them," he admitted. "I've started giving them out to random people on the train so I can get rid of them all." 

"Well, you'll be glad to know that you don't have to buy any more flowers," Cisco said. "You. Me. Date tonight? You could come by here at 8." 

Barry grinned. "Agreed," he nodded, and then his eyes lit up. "But, I will need to buy a dozen more flowers. Your choice." 

"Oh really?" Cisco said. "And what reason is it for this time?"

Barry leaned over the counter, getting closer to Cisco, who couldn't help but let out a small laugh at Barry's new found flirtiness. "Well," Barry said. "Turns out, I have a date tonight." 

* * *

Unfortunately, not every Earth is made for them, and Cisco finds this out in a short but horrifying moment. 

Earth 35 is the most unique of all the Earths, for his hospital room looks like a bedroom from the fantasy books he loves to read, and while doctors and patients have regular clothes on, Cisco sees that the visitors wear shimmery clothes that seem to radiate light. Normally Cisco would try to find out more, but he can focus on one thing: his doppleganger is in a hospital bed, dying. He can't figure out what he has; either Earth 35 has different diseases than Earth 1 or they've named them different things, but either way the result is the same: Francisco Ramon of Earth 35 is close to death. 

He lays there, coughing the entire time, but cracking jokes. He's always trying to get Dr Snow to crack a smile, and when she shoots him a small smile, Francisco always lights up and whispers, "Aha, I've melted the frost queen's heart," before he delves into another round of coughing. Dr Wells is his surgeon, and he is as snarky and rough as Earth 2's Wells, but when Cisco closes his eyes a little too long, Dr Wells immediately presses the button to call for Dr Snow, and a flash of fear crosses his face, passing only when Francisco wakes up and looks at Dr Snow's worried face and mutters, "Woah, chill, I was just taking a nap." 

On Barry's first day of the job, Francisco dies. He sees the young man enter the room and is about to joke about how young Barry looks, but Francisco only gets out a "Hello" before his throat closes up and he starts seizing. Barry runs to him, eyes full of worry, but it's too late for Francisco. His throat fills up, and the vision around him slowly grays, and when other nurses and doctors spill into the room to help Francisco, they find that he is long gone. 

Francisco Ramon was the first person Barry ever saw die. 

Barry Allen had been the last face Francisco Ramon had ever seen. 

Cisco Ramon never looks at Earth 35 again. 

* * *

He had avoided looking at other Earths for a long time afterwards, but one day, Cisco's curiosity gets the better of him, and he finds himself looking into Earth 46. 

This Earth features them as spies, and - perhaps to make up for Earth 35 - has him with both Barry  _and_ Iris. 

"Come on, boys," Iris says, leading the two through the dark hallway, until Cisco puts a hand on her shoulder and motions for her to move behind a corner. 

"Guards coming," he mouths, and Iris nods, pushing Barry and Cisco behind her. It's a tense moment as they wait for the guard to pass, but he does, and Cisco nods for the trio to move ahead. When they grab the USB file that ARGUS required and have returned to their small, unassuming van outside, the three erupt in laughter and cheers. 

"We did it!" Barry laughs. "Our first ARGUS mission actually went smoothly." 

"Thanks to Cisco making sure that we didn't get caught," Iris smiled. 

"No, it was Barry cracking the safe that had the file," Cisco said. 

"Aaand Iris actually protected us both, so she really deserves the credit," Barry added. 

Iris looked at the two of them and grabbed their hands. "How about we just agree that we make a perfect team?" she said, smiling at the two of them. 

Barry and Cisco link hands as well, and Barry nods. "Agreed," he says, and kisses both Iris and Cisco. 

Earth 1 Cisco wonders if this pairing is how it's supposed to be - not just him and Barry, or him and Iris, but all three together. 

If it is, he doesn't think he'd mind it. 

* * *

Earth 23 seems to be exactly the same as Earth 1 except for the fact that Jitters has been replaced by a smaller cafe named Sweetbrew (which Cisco thinks is a disgusting name for a coffee shop, but maybe it's better than being named after a symptom of a caffeine high). 

There, Barry is a barista, and quite honestly the worst barista in existence. 

"Hey, I'd like a small coffee with milk," Cisco says. 

"All right," Barry says, grabbing a cup from the middle. 

"Oh - small, not medium." 

"Oh! Right! Sorry about that," Barry said, replacing the cup with the right size. "First day, my bad. Your name?" 

"Cisco." 

"All right, that'll be $3.75." 

Cisco watches as his doppleganger hands a $5 bill to Barry, and he has to hold in his laughter when Barry takes it and smiles at Cisco, who is standing there expectantly. 

"Do....you need anything else?" Barry asked, the smile still on his face. 

"My change?" E-23 Cisco asked, and Cisco saw that his doppleganger was also holding back laughter. Barry gave a small shout of recognition and reached into the cash register, counting out the change and handing it to Cisco. He leaned over and lowered his voice, saying, "If I'm going to be honest, man, I've never worked in a coffee shop before." 

"Really? I would have never known," Cisco responded with a smile, and Barry laughs with a twinge of embarrassment. When Cisco finally leaves, he hears cups topple over and a soft " _I'll clean it up_ " behind him, and that is when he finally laughs. 

Cisco watches as his doppleganger returns every day, ordering the same thing from Barry - a small coffee with milk - and every day, Barry makes less mistakes, and the two start talking more and more. It's like Earth 32, Cisco muses, except this time it's _Cisco_ coming in day after day. 

Barry is the one who asks Cisco out. 

"So, you busy tonight?" Barry asks Cisco while writing on his cup. 

"Nah, just going to sit down at home and watch a Doctor Who marathon." 

"Really?" Barry asks, his eyes shooting upwards. "I've never watched it before; I've always wanted to." 

"You should," Cisco said, watching as Barry makes his order. "Billie Piper was the best Doctor yet - although, Karen Gillan and Jenna Coleman are up there as my favorites." 

"Well," Barry said, putting a lid on the coffee and handing it to Cisco. "Maybe we can watch it tonight?" 

Cisco blinked, and then looked down at the cup - which had Barry's number and email written on it. "Both?" he said, raising his eyes at Barry. 

Barry blushed. "I wasn't sure which one you used, okay?" he said, and Cisco laughed. 

"Well, I'll text and email you my address, all right?" Cisco said. "You, my friend, are going to be watching a  _great_ show today." 

* * *

Earth 40 is where Cisco spends the least time - he is there for only a few minutes before he is pulled away, but he already likes what he sees there. 

He and Barry are college professors - Barry does theoretical physics, while Cisco teaches the engineering courses - and their offices are right next to each other. Cisco laughs as his doppleganger nudges Barry to make a side comment about Dean Grant (only to stifle his laughter when she starts walking their way). He watches almost embarrassingly when he and Barry kiss in the middle of the science building's hallway, pausing only to move into Barry's office before they lean back into the kiss, and Cisco can only focus on the small details:Cisco is clutching Barry's suit, Barry's glasses are already sliding off of his nose but he's _far_ too busy holding onto Cisco to fix them, Cisco's hair falling out of its bun, more pieces falling the more their kiss deepens - 

"Hey, Cisco!" 

Cisco is pulled out of Earth 40, and he scrambles out of his seat, ripping the goggles off his head. "I wasn't doing anything," he stammers, turning to face Barry and Iris. 

Barry narrows his eyes at Cisco. "You sure?" he asks. "Because those look like your goggles." 

Cisco gave a short laugh. "Right, ah well, I was doing  _something_ ," he admitted. "Just looking at other Earths. Making sure the universe is in order, that type of thing." 

Barry and Iris had matching looks of disbelief on their faces, but Barry finally shrugged, accepting the statement. "Okay," he said, moving closer to Cisco. "Well, that aside, I kind of need your help with something." 

Cisco frowned. "Metahuman stuff? I didn't hear about anything in my-"

"Oh, no," Barry said. "Personal stuff. It's hard to explain but, I'm going to need you to pretend to be my boyfriend - if that's okay." 

"I-huh?" Cisco blinks, and for a brief moment he wonders if he's still stuck on another Earth. 

"It's just - one of my old classmates is a huge Flash fan, and he saw me walking in here and got  _really_ curious and put the pieces together - so I kind of just told him that my boyfriend works here to get off my back, but now he wants to go on a double date and-" 

"All right," Cisco says, putting up a finger to shush Barry. "I'll go along with your stupid,  _stupid_ plan." 

At that, Barry and Iris smile, and Iris gives Cisco a hug. "Try not to steal my man," she laughs, and Cisco gives a small laugh and leans into the hug. 

"Hey, we can share, right?" he asks as they pull away, and Iris smiles. 

"I don't see why not," she says. She joins Barry, who's already typing at their computer, and turns to Cisco. "You coming? Barry's making a fake profile here; you might want to put in some input." 

"I'll be there in a second," Cisco says, and he gives a small smile as he watches Barry and Iris laugh as they create the profile. Iris moves Barry's chair out of the way to delete something he wrote, and Barry gives an offended, "Hey, Cisco and I  _would_ have met at a Star Wars convention!" and Cisco laughs. 

Forget all the other Earths. Earth  _One_ was his favorite. 

 


End file.
